James May June 2024 web - Flipbook - Page 9
When first learning about the
Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners— a
city-funded living laboratory designed
to provide a real-world test environment to advanced next-generation
intelligent mobility and smart city
technology— I was, well, curious.
I had read that Peachtree Corners,
a forward-looking Gwinnett County
suburb of Atlanta whose residents
voted to become a municipality in
2012, was one of the first “smart cities”
in the country to be powered by cityowned connected infrastructure and
5G. But I didn’t know much else.
Prompted by former state Economic Development Commissioner
Craig Lesser, I called Peachtree Corners City Manager Brian Johnson. He
explained that the lab is located with-
in a 500-acre technology park where
7,500 people work and more than
1,000 people live. He talked about its
unique infrastructure that facilitates
innovation. He also said that early-stage startups, universities, and established companies are all welcome
to join “our innovation ecosystem” to
test ideas, inventions, and products at
no cost. And he invited me for a tour
and interview to see for myself.
Creating Curiosity Lab
Johnson says “the seeds for the
lab were planted when the Mayor and
Council started to take a hard look
at economic development within the
city. We were about five years into our
existence, and we understood that
economic development doesn’t always
happen by itself. Sometimes you have
to put your finger on the scales. We
got into this by asking ourselves what
makes Peachtree Corners special? It’s
certainly a great place to live, work,
and play but a lot of cities can make
that claim. So why would a company
want to come HERE? We ultimately
decided to focus on our status as being
home to the state’s very first research
and technology park.”
“Since there are now about seven
to ten of these parks in metro Atlanta,” he continued, “we then asked how
do we separate ourselves from them?
If we have an office park filled with
technology companies, how does that
evolve? We researched the evolution of innovative technologies and
noticed that new technology tended to get tested initially in a closed
environment where all the variables
are controlled. You see if your product
works in a vacuum. Take the example
of self-driving vehicles or robotics.
Companies need public space to test
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